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Indian skybus metro expected to roll within a year
Monday, 20 October 2003, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: An Indian company hopes to flag off within a year the first of its skybus metros, a rail based high-speed mass transit system, a feat that may help bag orders in the Middle East.
"Our target is to have the first skybus metro running by October 15 next year," B. Rajaram, managing director of Konkan Railway Corp. Ltd., told IANS.
This would pave the way for India to undertake several other projects within the country and overseas, including in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Syria.
"Over the last two to three years we have received several expressions of interest from various state governments and countries, in particular the Middle East, to have the skybus metro system in areas with heavy traffic.
"We have already done the survey of a 14 km stretch in Madinah, covering all the important places in the holy city.
"Saudi Arabia has expressed an interest in having a similar mass rapid system in the holy city of Makkah," said Rajaram.
With Konkan Railway having demonstrated its capacity to produce a world-class skybus prototype, it is just a matter of time before funds and clearances come through for the first skybus system to get operational in India, says Rajaram.
Marking the foundation day of Konkan Railway on October 15, the state-owned railway demonstrated in Goa the first indigenously developed commercial prototype sky coach, sky guides and sky station "all designed and manufactured within 90 days with the help of 34 companies at a cost of 
70 million".
Companies like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Larsen and Toubro, Tata Projects, Zygox and Kineco put in expertise and funds to help realise the demonstration project.
Rajaram, who has been working on the design of skybus for over a decade, is now in the process of getting it patented in the name of Konkan Railway and India in 128 countries.
Unlike the high-speed mono railway operated in Japan and several countries, skybus will have twin rails eight kilometres above the ground.
Again unlike a normal train, the skybus will have only two coaches of 3.5 tonnes each operating at 100 km per hour to ensure service every minute over short distances.
"We don't need any extra land space for setting up the skybus, which can be set up over road dividers on concrete structures eight metres above ground. As compared to the regular railway or underground metros that cost around 3 billion per km, skybus infrastructure can be set up at 500 million per km," said Rajaram.
Now only a one-kilometre demonstration project has to be realised to get many other projects rolling.
So far Konkan Railway has received 15 proposals totalling 966 km from within India, from cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Lucknow and Kochi. The total cost of these projects will work out to be around 444.35 billion.
Including the overseas proposals from the Dubai, Sharjah and Damascus where plans have been submitted, the projects in the pipeline are worth around 700 billion.
With PUV, the internationally reputed Germany-based firm, coming forward to give global security certification for the project, the only thing remaining is to get the first project off the ground.
"Once the demonstration project gets going, we could get started," said Rajaram.
While the prime minister has given his go-ahead to Konkan Railway to get started with a project in Goa, planners are still to decide how to go about the funding process.
The alternatives being mulled are setting up a three-kilometre double track sky metro lab or a demonstration project in Goa with four skybus coaches or starting off with a two-kilometre stretch in Kochi.
Source: IANS
70 million".
Companies like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Larsen and Toubro, Tata Projects, Zygox and Kineco put in expertise and funds to help realise the demonstration project.
Rajaram, who has been working on the design of skybus for over a decade, is now in the process of getting it patented in the name of Konkan Railway and India in 128 countries.
Unlike the high-speed mono railway operated in Japan and several countries, skybus will have twin rails eight kilometres above the ground.
Again unlike a normal train, the skybus will have only two coaches of 3.5 tonnes each operating at 100 km per hour to ensure service every minute over short distances.
"We don't need any extra land space for setting up the skybus, which can be set up over road dividers on concrete structures eight metres above ground. As compared to the regular railway or underground metros that cost around 3 billion per km, skybus infrastructure can be set up at 500 million per km," said Rajaram.
Now only a one-kilometre demonstration project has to be realised to get many other projects rolling.
So far Konkan Railway has received 15 proposals totalling 966 km from within India, from cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Lucknow and Kochi. The total cost of these projects will work out to be around 444.35 billion.
Including the overseas proposals from the Dubai, Sharjah and Damascus where plans have been submitted, the projects in the pipeline are worth around 700 billion.
With PUV, the internationally reputed Germany-based firm, coming forward to give global security certification for the project, the only thing remaining is to get the first project off the ground.
"Once the demonstration project gets going, we could get started," said Rajaram.
While the prime minister has given his go-ahead to Konkan Railway to get started with a project in Goa, planners are still to decide how to go about the funding process.
The alternatives being mulled are setting up a three-kilometre double track sky metro lab or a demonstration project in Goa with four skybus coaches or starting off with a two-kilometre stretch in Kochi.
Source: IANS